Scrappy Hellgate upends Flathead

Edge of your seat, pull your hair out volleyball.

That's what the Flathead Bravettes and Missoula Hellgate Knights treated Western AA fans to on Friday night.

In the end, Hellgate's senior experience won out - it downed Flathead in four games - 25-21, 25-23, 15-25, 26-24.

"I think we just made too many unforced errors. Our offense was stronger, but they outscrapped us and in those long rallies we made too many errors," said Flathead coach Leon Wilcox.

Flathead won almost every statistical area - it had 54 kills to 49 for Hellgate, 79 digs to 60 for Hellgate and served 11 aces to Hellgate's three.

Hannah Sackett led the Bravettes with 21 kills, freshman Kwyn Johnson had four blocks, Mary Allen had 20 digs and Ashley Lund served up four aces.

"She was definitely a go-to hitter for us," Wilcox said of Sackett.

"Sometimes we were very aggressive (in the rallies), sometimes we were very timid. They just wore us down until we made the mistake," he said.

"But I was very pleased with the effort. I think we did some fantastic things," he added.

The first game was tight most of the way. Hellgate built a 19-14 lead, but the Bravettes bounced back to go up 21-20, before making four straight errors.

But the second game will haunt Flathead.

It had a 7-point lead and appeared to be rolling toward evening the match.

And then the Bravettes started making mistakes - they hit long, they hit wide, they touched the net, they smacked the ball into the net … and they let the long rallies fall in Hellgate's favor. The Knights hung around until they pulled out the 25-23 win.

"We didn't stick it to them," Wilcox said.

"That's the only thing we didn't do when we had that big lead. We played to protect the lead," he said.

So, in an 0-2 hole, Wilcox asked the Bravettes to do just one thing in the third game.

"Give it 100 percent for every ball. Keep fighting. And they did. They got a lead and they fought for it," he said.

In fact, they hammered the Knights in that game.

They continued the fight in the fourth game, even fending off one Hellgate match point at 24-23.

But Knights' middle hitter Becca Braak had the final say - she smacked one kill hard to go up 25-24, then kissed a tip off the top of the net for the match.

Wilcox added compliments to Ashley Lunde for her serving - four aces with just one error in 22 tries, Kwyn Johnson for her blocking and kill efficiency, and Mary Allen for her passing.

"Mary Allen's passing, and her defense, was dynamite, as good as you could possibly ask for," he said.

The Bravettes travel today to Helena to take on Helena Capital at 2 p.m.

Kills: Hellgate 49 (Becca Braak 15), Flathead 54 (Hannah Sackett 21), Assists: Hellgate 48 (Halen McKenzie 27), Flathead 45 (Alison Lunde 41), Blocks: Hellgate 6 (Mary Yoder 3), Flathead 5 (Kwyn Johnson 4), Digs: Hellgate 60 (Lisa Woerlein 17), Flathead 79 (Mary Allen 20, Jaimee Zorn 15, Sackett 15), Aces: Hellgate 3 (Gen Newell 2), Flathead 11 (Ashley Lunde 4).